The Hong Kong Police Honor Guard raises a Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong flag during a flag raising ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Square on June 15, 2020 in Hong Kong, China.
Anthony Kwan | fake pictures
Reportedly the main decision-making body in China’s parliament passed the controversial national security law for Hong Kong, according to local media.
Reuters quoted cable television in Hong Kong as reporting that the law was unanimously approved by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China on Tuesday.
Beijing says the law aims to ban secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, and foreign interference. The law was proposed during China’s annual parliamentary meeting in late May and revived protests in Hong Kong for fear that freedoms in the city would be eroded.
It comes before the anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from the UK to mainland China on July 1.
Hong Kong is a former British colony governed under the “one country, two systems” framework and has more autonomy than other Chinese cities, including limited electoral rights and a largely separate legal and economic system. The special administrative region was returned to China in 1997.
Before the passage of that law, the Eurasia Group said passing the law before the anniversary of the handover could be an indication that Beijing wants “to suppress protests long before” the Hong Kong legislative council elections in September.
Controversy over the law
Few details are known about the bill, but many were concerned that Beijing would invade Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms, in part because the measure would bypass the city’s own lawmakers. Hong Kong was promised a high level of autonomy for 50 years after delivery.
It is also seen as a way for China to gain more control after Hong Kong saw protracted, and sometimes violent, protests over a now-withdrawn extradition bill.
Meanwhile, companies see the need for a security law, but want to know what it involves and how it will be implemented, David Dodwell, executive director of Hong Kong’s APEC Trade Policy Group, told CNBC in early June.
Reuters reported that a national security office would be established in Hong Kong to collect information and handle related crimes, and that city leader Carrie Lam could appoint specific judges to hear national security cases.
Lam said it would not, but would select a panel of judges from which the judiciary can choose, according to Reuters.
He also said that the new law would not infringe Hong Kong’s lifestyle, but would focus on a “small minority of illegal and criminal acts.”
– CNBC’s Huileng Tan, Yen Nee Lee, Tucker Higgins contributed to this report.
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